Poultry farming becomes boon in Rajshahi

Poultry farming has become a boon for many families in Rajshahi, as they are seen improving their living and livelihood conditions through ventures in the region, including its vast Barind tract.

In practice, most of the rural households, including the marginalised and ethnic minorities, are habituated to poultry birds farming as the means of meeting protein demands as well as overcoming financial crises through selling those.

On behalf of the government, various need-based services are being provided to the grassroots level poultry farmers for making their ventures profitable and sustainable.

Azizun Nahar, 45, wife of a day-laborer, is now at the threshold of eradicating her long-lasting poverty through household-based chicken rearing through modern methods.

At the preliminary stage, she received training on chicken rearing along with its proper feeding, vaccination and marketing by the Local Service Providers (LSPs).

Talking to BSS on Tuesday, Nahar said both demand and market price of native chicken varieties is higher than others.

After becoming a part of her 25-member local cooperative society, she enjoys some extra privileges of poultry rearing and marketing.

Like Azizun Nahar, many other households are involved in the poultry rearing activities.

Sabiha Sultana, a local community leader, says all the organized members are very much optimistic about improving their living and livelihood conditions through the poultry rearing value chain.

The households have learnt how to promote the community business after the best uses of the local resources and services.

The organised women urged the local service providers to supply modern technology and other requisite facilities to their activities for making the business profitable and sustainable.

More than 6,500 less-income and marginalised households, most of them women, have developed around 350 chicken rearing societies in 17 upazilas of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Natore and Pabna districts.
 
Through establishing service contract points in their respective areas more than 700 LSPs deliver requisite training, advice and inputs services to the producers after taking training on chicken rearing.

Various public institutions and agencies provide extension services to the LSPs, who earn on an average Taka 2,500 per month. In practice, they disseminate different modern technology to the producers through setting demonstration plots within the working households.

"We organise community meetings with assistance of private companies for building awareness about quality products regularly," said Zakir Hossain, an LSP of Godagari.

The LSPs have good collaboration and linkage with line departments and private companies as they establish functional linkage with product based traders, pickers and private companies.

District Livestock Officer Dr Zilfiker Muhammad Akhter Hossain said the rural level poultry farmers are playing a vital role towards meeting protein demands.  

Dr Jalal Uddin Sarder, Dean of Veterinary and Animal Science Faculty at Rajshahi University, told BSS that many of the rural households have now become involved in chicken rearing commercially through various GO-NGO level interventions which is a good sign for eradicating rural poverty.

"Basically, a silent revolution has taken place in the poultry rearing sector," he added.